Sea levels may rise much faster than previously anticipated. A study by international researchers published in the December 2011 issue of the journal Science has revealed that Antarctica, which contains most of the world's fresh water frozen in its glaciers, could be melting at a rate very similar to the Arctic.

Although scientists have known that the Antarctic is also affected by climate change, it was previously thought that the magnitude and rates of change were much less.

Through the use of ice core samples, however, the research team for this study found that at the end of the last Ice Age, both the Arctic and Antarctica were disappearing nearly simultaneously.

This suggests that deepwater circulation changes had carried warm waters to the edge of the Antarctic, creating instabilities in the southern ice cap that could also be occurring today.

Lead author Dr. Michael Weber of the Geological Institute in Germany's University of Cologne concluded by warning of the current likelihood of ever more rapid sea level rise, saying that based on these findings, future forecasts would need to be adjusted accordingly.

Although disturbing in its implications, we are grateful for your work, Dr. Weber and colleagues. May we all be motivated toward the swift adoption of lifestyles that restore the fragile balance of our Earth.

During a March 2009 videoconference in California, USA, Supreme Master Ching Hai emphasized the urgency of warming ice caps, while offering a crucial way to respond.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Before, the United Nations predicted that one meter sea level rise would be very catastrophic already and causing a lot of people to lose their homes.

But scientists have learned that Greenland and western Antarctica and eastern Antarctica are all melting now,which had not been a factor before. Based on these findings, one scientist said: If all Antarctica were to melt, then the sea level could rise up to 70 meters!

So, there’s no way we can run away from this except we turn to a virtuous way of life; then we are connected with Heaven because Heaven is virtuous and love and blessing. I see no other way we can protect ourselves at all.

The Bangkok Post reports that Thai physician and respected social activist Dr. Prawase Wasi, speaking in early December 2011, stated that the country's recent catastrophic flooding is due in part to extreme deforestation as he called for a more harmonious balance to be restored between humans and nature.

A study released on December 6, 2011, conducted by the UK-based Butterfly Conservation and the British Center for Ecology & Hydrology, found that many of the country's butterflies are disappearing, with the populations of nearly 75% of all species having declined over the past decade.